208 Chapter 205
He had woken up late in the morning with a fever.
At first, he had simply elected to rest in his dorms, but when he had simply proceeded to feel more and more horrible as the sun rolled across the sky, he had realized that he needed medical assistance.
Which was why when the dusk started to fall and he was sure that it wasn't bright enough outside to hurt his eyes or something, he pushed himself off of his bed and headed down the Gryffindor tower to the hospital wing.
However, his trip wasn't meant to be all that smooth, because about halfway to the hospital wing as he turned a corner in the second-floor corridors, he saw something that made him grind to a halt.
Near the spot where Mrs. Norris had been found petrified all those months ago, there was a message painted permanently into the wall. It wasn't that old message that had chilled him to the bones, however.
It was the small figure that was daubing another bloody message right underneath the first one.
Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever.
A small draft blew through the halls, making the torchlight flicker and cast a light on the small figure's face. Lisa Turpin, he remembered with a small chill. The Ravenclaw girl.
'Is she the heir?' he thought incredulously as he tried to stay unnoticed.
Lisa finished daubing the message in, and with a wave of her wand, removed the paint that coated her fingers before she quickly headed into the girl's bathroom that was a few meters away from the spot.
Dean followed, his own illness forgotten as the prospect of finally finding the heir and making her pay for what happened to Hermione presented itself to him. He tiptoed over to the doors of the bathroom, where he cracked open the door as quietly as he could before peering in.
The girl was standing next to the sink, bent over a tap as if looking for something.
Suddenly, she opened her mouth and let loose a guttural noise that sent chills down his spine, "Hashsssshaaaasaaaa"
Parseltongue, he remembered.
The mark of a descendant of Slytherin. If there had been any doubt that Turpin was the Heir in his mind, it was now well and truly gone.
The tap she was hissing at suddenly glowed and began to spin. Next second, the sink began to move, sinking right out of sight, leaving a large pipe exposed.
It took him all his restraint to not gasp.
The girl lowered herself into the pipe before she let go, dropping down to wherever she was going to with a whoosh of wind. The sink started rising back up, and at that moment, Dean knew that he had a choice to make. He could go back and call the teachers, or he could follow the girl down the pipe.
'But she had spoken parseltongue to open the pipe', he thought. If he went back to get the teachers now, then there would be no way for them to teachers get into the sink. With almost no time left to think, he immediately made a decision and slipped through the door as he dashed towards the opening in the ground.
"Gryffindors charge bravely ahead," he told himself as he jumped into the pipe, just as the sink closed back up above him.
It was like rushing down an endless slide. After what felt like a full minute, he landed on something soft and crunchy, and when he looked up, a pair of giant yellow eyes were staring back at him.
His body seized up, and he knew no more.
"ID Escape," Harry muttered and appeared in the real world in a Forbidden Forest clearing near the edge of the forest. The sun had finally gone down, and the moon was shining brightly in the sky, bathing the clearing in a silvery light. It was finally dark enough for what Harry needed to do.
Pulling out Gandiva from his inventory and notching a fire arrow in it, Harry aimed it at the sky and let it fly. Sending a small tendril of mana to the fire as the burning arrow reached its highest point above the forest canopy, Harry made the fire explode into a bright fireball for an instant before he extinguished it, not wanting to start any forest fires.
It was a short signal, but the people whose attention he was trying to get were quite vigilant. They would've seen it.
Harry stood there for a few minutes before the distinct noise of clip-clopping hooves reached his ears. He put Gandiva back into his inventory, not wanting to appear threatening just as half a dozen centaurs armed with drawn bows burst into the clearing with a familiar form at the lead.
"Good evening Firenze," he said to the group's leader, who raised a hand, telling the others to stand down. The other centaurs lowered their bows and backed off, but Harry could tell that they were watching from the edge of the clearing.
"You caused quite a panic at the tribe, Harry Potter. The elders were close to predicting that the forest's chosen wizard was in danger." the centaur said, walking closer to Harry.
"I really do apologize for any inconvenience caused Firenze," Harry said, "but I needed someone from the centaur tribe to help me find the acromantula colony that has been living here. Perhaps you know of it? It started when one of them escaped from the school into the forest sometime about fifty years ago."
Firenze's expression had grown disapproving and guarded, "What do you want with the likes of Aragog and his children? Abandon whatever your wish is and leave Harry Potter. Only grave danger awaits any man who goes there."
"Do you guys at the tribe know what has been happening at the school? The petrifactions?" Harry asked, noting the name Aragog in the back of his mind as he changed his direction of approach.
"Yes we do," Firenze said, looking up at the night sky, "For some reason, the stars have been entirely too silent about it."
"The stars won't tell you anything Firenze. The person behind this has cast a Fidelius on himself. A charm that is capable of hiding the very existence of a secret. With that charm on the beast that is going around petrifying the people, it could do anything it wants…hurt whoever it wants and never be found or held responsible. But I think I know a way to break through it. Aragog is the key."
Firenze's eyes widened in shock, before he peered at his face, searching for something. Whatever it was, he must have found it, because he said, "Go east, and follow the spiders. Aragog will listen to you if you say that you are a friend of Hagrid's, but do not let yourself get surrounded. Do not trust them. Aragog is old, but his children are numerous, out of control and rowdy. Keep your bow handy…and stay safe."
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